Department for Transport

Railways: Franchises

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many directly awarded rail franchise agreements have been made by his Department in each year since 2004-05.

Joseph Johnson: Holding answer received on 08 February 2018



Direct Awards were not used prior to 2012. Since then, the following awards have been made: Direct Award madeFranchise2013Essex Thameside2013Great Western2014Thameslink Great Northern2014Northern2014West Coast2014East Anglia2014South Eastern2015Trans-Pennine Express2015Great Western 22015East Midlands2015West Midlands2016Cross Country2018West Coast 2 Direct Awards have been used primarily to smooth the franchising schedule and allow us to deliver the best possible value and benefits to passengers including to help minimise disruption through periods of major improvements or change. Direct Awards may be used, for example, when significant operational change makes mounting a competition challenging. Each Direct Award delivers new passenger benefits and service improvements in exchange for the contract extension before the new long-term franchise is competed.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Fireworks: Prosecutions

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many prosecutions there have been under the Fireworks Regulations 2004 in the last five years.

Andrew Griffiths: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 14 February 2018.The correct answer should have been:

The Ministry of Justice has provided the following information: The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates’ courts for offences under the Fireworks Regulations 2004, from 2006 to 2016 (latest available data), can be viewed in the attached table. Court proceedings data for 2017 are planned for publication in May 2018.



Prosecutions under Fireworks Regulations 2006-16
(Excel SpreadSheet, 10.45 KB)

Andrew Griffiths: The Ministry of Justice has provided the following information: The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates’ courts for offences under the Fireworks Regulations 2004, from 2006 to 2016 (latest available data), can be viewed in the attached table. Court proceedings data for 2017 are planned for publication in May 2018.



Prosecutions under Fireworks Regulations 2006-16
(Excel SpreadSheet, 10.45 KB)

Attorney General

Travellers: Discrimination

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Attorney General, how many successful prosecutions there have been under the Equality Act 2010 for discrimination against the Gypsy and Traveller communities.

Robert Buckland: There was one prosecution under s175 (1)(a) and 2 of the Equalities Act in 2011/12. This creates offences in relation to access to public service vehicles. In accordance with CPS Retention Policy a case involving an offence under section 175 of the Equalities Act 2010 would be archived one year following sentencing. Therefore, no further information is held about the case in question.Section 9 of the Equality Act 2010 defines the protected characteristics of ‘race’. Race includes colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins. Ethnic or national origins include being from a Roma or Traveler background, therefore the CPS prosecutes crimes against the Gypsy and Traveller communities under other legislation, in particular hate crimes against the community.A programme of CPS mandated training for prosecutors, including racially aggravated crime, was developed and completed by the start of 2017.

Unexplained Wealth Orders

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Attorney General, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Crown Prosecution Service has the resources necessary to implement the new unexplained wealth orders.

Robert Buckland: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has adequate resources to undertake work relating to unexplained wealth orders.The Home Office will provide funding to the value of £70,500 in 2017-18 in order to support CPS POC and the ROCU/RART network to develop the knowledge and skills required in order to investigate cases appropriately and to conduct High Court civil litigation.

Department for International Development

Non-governmental Organisations: EU Grants and Loans

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of ECHO funding has gone to UK-based humanitarian NGOs in each of the last five years.

Harriett Baldwin: UK NGOs are important partners for ECHO. In 2016, 24 out of 136 partners who received funding from ECHO were UK-based (or 17.6%). UK-based partners received more funding than those from any other countries.

Syria: Overseas Aid

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what the planned allocation of funding from her Department in respect of the Syrian crisis is for (a) 2018 and (b) 2019; and what proportion of that funding will be spent (i) inside and (ii) outside Syria.

Alistair Burt: DFID country allocations for 2018 and 2019 are yet to be determined. In 2017, we spent £508 million – 102% of our pledge at the April 2017 Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region conference.

Ministry of Defence

Ministry of Defence: Public Expenditure

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the savings which need to be realised by his Department over the 10 years to 2026-27.

Gavin Williamson: In the 2015 Spending Review, the Ministry of Defence agreed to an efficiency target of £7.4 billion between 2016 and 2021. These efficiencies will be sustainable and their enduring benefits, when carried forward a further five years, will release a total of around £20 billion of efficiency savings over the 10 years to 2025-26 - or £23 billion by 2026-27.As a Department, we have also delivered over £5 billion of efficiency savings between 2010-2016, and are making good progress towards our Spending Review 2015 target.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Countryside Stewardship Scheme: North Cornwall

Scott Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many and what proportion of farmers in north Cornwall have taken up the Entry Level Stewardship scheme since 2015.

George Eustice: Entry Level Stewardship closed for new applications in 2014. There have been no new Entry Level Stewardship applications since 2015 in North Cornwall or elsewhere.   In 2015, the Environmental Stewardship Scheme was replaced by Countryside Stewardship, which offers 5 year land management agreements beginning on the 1st January in the year following application. In North Cornwall we have approved 83 Countryside Stewardship agreements with a 1st January 2016 start date and 102 with a 1st January 2017 start date.

Home Office

Intelligence Services Commissioner

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish the third direction issued by the Prime Minister to the Intelligence Services Commissioner.

Mr Ben Wallace: It is Government policy not to publish directions by the PM to the Intelligence Services Commissioner.

Home Office: Postal Services

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what security measures her Department has in place relating to the receipt by her Department of incoming post and parcels; and what discussions she has had with the British Forces Postal Office on providing such services.

Mr Ben Wallace: The department follows guidance issued by the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure for establishing secure postal monitoring services.

Britain First

Paula Sherriff: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the threat level of the group Britain First; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Ben Wallace: We have been clear that Britain First is an extremist organisation which seeks to divide communities through its use of hateful narratives which spread lies and stoke tensions. Where a group is viewed as posing a terrorist risk then we will take action to prosecute them. This is done on a case by case basis.

Hezbollah

Paul Masterton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what criteria the Government uses to distinguish between the political and military wings of Hezbollah.

Mr Ben Wallace: The Government distinguishes between those parts of Hizbollah which are involved in Lebanese politics (and that maintains a social welfare network that encompasses education and health services) and those which are actively concerned in terrorism (and are responsible for the planning, coordination and execution of terrorist attacks). The activity an individual in Hizbollah is engaged in will contribute to what part of the organisation they belong to.

Cabinet Office

Emergencies: Mobile Phones

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of introducing a Wireless Emergency Alert system in the UK similar to that currently available in the United States.

Mr David Lidington: Cabinet Office worked with the police, the communications providers and behavioural scientists and undertook geographically limited, but realistic, trials of mobile alerting culminating in 2014. Mobile alerting is kept under review as part of our ability to warn and inform the public about emergencies through a range of channels.

Government Chief Scientific Adviser

Norman Lamb: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many meetings he had with the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser between October and December 2017.

Mr David Lidington: The Minister for the Cabinet Office did not have any meetings with the Government Chief Scientific Adviser between October and December 2017. The Government Chief Scientific Adviser regularly meets Ministers throughout Government.